Ruby Smith, the mouths of all the others

unzip me from collar to cunt until the shiny silver tracks gleam along the seams of my

listen to me – I want you. pull them out one by one: heart

liver

creaky flesh-coloured bath by the scented candles

and now the hidden pockets (camouflaged pink in nylon lining) in these I have hidden the mouths of all the others

and put them in a drawer where I don’t have to see them until I’m empty are we there yet? I can’t breathe anymore but I lack only an apparatus

pour a glass of wine for fuck’s sake and call it romance – I’m only angry to stop the other and you’re only laughing to stop the fear. Your silence fills my empty throat your distance makes the skin burn and crackle

68

until the shiny silver tracks gleam along the seams of my empty sports-bag body

lungs and line them along the edge of my

we can dispose of them later.

in these I have hidden the mouths of all the others take these too, if you please, even the secret ones

the mouths of all the others

by Ruby Smith

heart beats slow from below the tap what about this do you find attractive?

will you leave me lying open here forever? 69